Yo! Speakers with casters. Now THAT I am
used to. The woof, woof, woofers that I have for my bass guitar
in our Jazz ensemble are all on casters, with the amp sitting on
top. Of course, the Ohm 200s look a LOT nicer, with the Rosewood
veneer. All my guitar woofers face outward, but the Ohm speakers
use a design called the Walsh, after the man who invented it. The
main driver sits on top of the cabinet, facing downward, and is
surrounded by a metal perforated can (see photo). The tweeter is
mounted on top of the woofer magnet. In the case of the 200, you
can see the can by removing the "grille" which
surrounds the can, but with the Omni, the enclosure is continuous
all the way to the top, above the drivers, and the sides of the
top have openings, but the can is still there, inside. The 200 is
ported on the bottom, where the single set of gold plated binding
posts are also situated. The Omni uses a passive radiator instead
of an open port, and there is one set of binding posts on the
bottom. The 200 came with casters, and this made it SO easy to
move them. The casters can be removed if you like the spikes
instead (they are underneath the casters), but I really liked the
casters. This also made it easy to connect the speaker cables and
move the speakers so that they did not sit on top of the wiring.
The Omnis didn't have casters or spikes, but rather, the
enclosure was slotted along the bottom. This did not allow me to
connect big cables, since the slots were not high enough to allow
the cables to pass underneath. I would suggest that the factory
make the slots larger for those big, thick, heavy cables that us
woofy mongers like. The enclosures are 3/4" MDF, veneered in
the case of the 200s, and lacquered in the Omnis.

The Walsh design is such that the main body
of sound, up to about 8 kHz comes from the inverted driver
sitting on top of the cabinet. The idea is that the sound
radiates in a 360 degree pattern from the perforations in the
can. The tweeter, on the other hand, is highly directional, and
is pointed towards one corner. This means that there is a left
and right speaker, and if they are facing with a flat side
horizontal with respect to the listener, the tweeter is actually
pointed at a 45 degree angle inward. This is a VERY unusual
design, one that I have never seen before. The effect is one of a
very large sound stage for the lows and mids, but the tweeter is
not so scratchy because it is not facing straight out. I like
this effect, because, as you know, I am a bass hog.

I thought my wife was not going to like the
looks of the 200s because of the box-like grille on top. But she
loved them! More importantly (to me), she liked the sound. The
200s are big on the bass, and I mean deep and powerful. I was
kind of surprised that the 10" driver could put out so much.
The Omnis were tighter on the bass, and not quite so powerful.
They both had very focused treble, which sort of threw me off
guard, since the mids are so open, like you might find with a
ribbon speaker. Definitely something you have to get used to. The
Omnis might make good rear speakers when digital surround really
takes hold. Neither model had any boominess, or nasality. As I
mentioned, the high end is slightly laid back, due to the
direction that the tweeter is facing.

Frequency Response Test Results (These data
represent tests in a real room with furniture, not anechoic tests
or simulations, and thus, may be somewhat different than you
might experience in your own listening room of other dimensions
and contents):

Ohm 200; Left speaker, grille on, 1 meter,
on axis with tweeter:

20 Hz

74.0 dB

500 Hz

88.3 dB

25 Hz

74.6 dB

800 Hz

80.7 dB

31.5 Hz

75.3 dB

1 kHz

81.1 dB

40 Hz

84.1 dB

2.5 kHz

82.4 dB

50 Hz

93.8 dB

5 kHz

82.0 dB

63 Hz

97.3 dB

8 kHz

82.8 dB

80 Hz

90.5 dB

10 kHz

88.1 dB

100 Hz

87.3 dB

12.5 kHz

89.5 dB

125 Hz

75.7 dB

15 kHz

94.5 dB

160 Hz

92.9 dB

18 kHz

92.2 dB

200 Hz

94.2 dB

Ohm 200, left speaker, grille on, 13 feet,
on axis with tweeter:

20 Hz

73.9 dB

500 Hz

77.9 dB

25 Hz

78.8 dB

800 Hz

77.6 dB

31.5 Hz

86.6 dB

1 kHz

80.4 dB

40 Hz

75.0 dB

2.5 kHz

75.7 dB

50 Hz

72.4 dB

5 kHz

77.5 dB

63 Hz

87.0 dB

8 kHz

78.9 dB

80 Hz

87.3 dB

10 kHz

79.0 dB

100 Hz

85.0 dB

12.5 kHz

74.4 dB

125 Hz

78.8 dB

15 kHz

69.7 dB

160 Hz

80.2 dB

18 kHz

79.7 dB

200 Hz

86.8 dB

Ohm Omni, Left speaker, grille on, 1 meter,
on axis with tweeter:

20 Hz

63.1 dB

500 Hz

80.8 dB

25 Hz

64.9 dB

800 Hz

90.3 dB

31.5 Hz

66.7 dB

1 kHz

81.7 dB

40 Hz

70.9 dB

2.5 kHz

75.0 dB

50 Hz

85.0 dB

5 kHz

81.5 dB

63 Hz

91.7 dB

8 kHz

65.8 dB

80 Hz

89.5 dB

10 kHz

78.2 dB

100 Hz

86.2 dB

12.5 kHz

82.7 dB

125 Hz

80.2 dB

15 kHz

75.7 dB

160 Hz

79.6 dB

18 kHz

68.3 dB

200 Hz

84.1 dB

Ohm Omni, left speaker, grille on, 13 feet,
on axis with tweeter:

20 Hz

69.1 dB

500 Hz

87.6 dB

25 Hz

77.5 dB

800 Hz

80.8 dB

31.5 Hz

84.3 dB

1 kHz

80.6 dB

40 Hz

75.6 dB

2.5 kHz

78.2 dB

50 Hz

67.8 dB

5 kHz

72.4 dB

63 Hz

88.1 dB

8 kHz

77.4 dB

80 Hz

91.9 dB

10 kHz

73.6 dB

100 Hz

88.2 dB

12.5 kHz

75.4 dB

125 Hz

80.8 dB

15 kHz

69.0 dB

160 Hz

69.1 dB

18 kHz

62.9 dB

200 Hz

89.5 dB

As you can see, the frequency response is
all over the place, probably due to the multi-directional sound
bouncing off the walls. I heard some harmonics below 200 Hz,
especially below 50 Hz. Although this raised my eyebrows
somewhat, one has to keep in mind that sine waves really stress a
speaker to the limits. Never-the-less, deep end harmonics are not
audible with all speakers that I have listened to. The designers
should make them sine wave clean if they can, in future models.
Music wise, they were fine.

In sum, the Ohm speakers, with their
"Walsh" design, are very unique. If you are into an
open sound stage, yet focused highs, these should definitely be
auditioned.